Tourists and Shack Employees Have Turned the South Goa Beaches into a Open Toilets?

Shocking but true, the news appeared in the local daily claims that the entire stretch of the South Goa beach belt starting form Colva to the Cavelossim has turned into an open toilet due to the tourists and shack employees using the sand dunes for defecation. The morning walkers are the ones who are facing the problems due to this….

The news reported by the Times of India claims that A morning walk along Salcete’s Colva-Cavelossim beach stretch is quickly turning into a revolting experience as people, including tourists and allegedly shack staff, use the sand dunes as open toilets.

Mr. Cruz Cardozo, the president of a Shack Owners Welfare Society of Goa, who came out in the defense of shack staff saying, it is easy to blame the shack staff, what about the lack of facilities on the Goan beaches for the staff of Drishti (A Lifeguard Service) all along this belt? Also, the government does not pay attention to the tourists who come to the state in the buses and private vehicles, who tend to use the beach for urination and defecation. “After receiving complaints about open defecation along the beach stretch, I inspected the Cavelossim beach. Here I found women relieving themselves in the shrubbery on the sand dunes. But shacks do not engage women,” he said adding that Shacks have built makeshift toilets for their staff.

Meanwhile, The Goa State Pollution Control Board has asked the Shack owners to show us where and how they are disposing the human waste collected in the tanks of the so-called makeshift toilets. Pollution board member secretary Levinson Martins said there is no consensus between the tourism department and the pollution board over the responsibility to monitor the scientific disposal of human waste.

However replying to the Pollution control board the director of the Tourism Department, Mr. Menino D’Souza have clarified that his department is only the licensing authority and that pollution falls in the domain of the board as “they have the equipment and infrastructure to monitor and carry out inspections”.

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Terming the issue as serious, Martins said a mechanism is needed to be worked out between all authorities instead of blaming the pollution board, cases could be reported by any authority or department based on which violators could be booked under the Goa, Daman and Diu Public Health Act, The health department can also conduct inspections, Martins said.

Meanwhile, a shack owner from south Goa Mr. Edwin Barreto said the government should have a sewage pipeline or connect shacks to the Jica sewerage system along the coastal belt. Junior environmental engineer with the pollution board Digvijay Dessai said that after cyclone Ockhi, the board had inspected a shack in Sernabatim and given directions on disposal of toilet waste. He said human waste disposal is not being monitored at present by the board but said they would inspect the Colva-Cavellosim beach belt in the next few days.

If you take a close look at this situation it looks like everyone is trying to wash their hands off the situation by putting the blame on others, and the main issue still remains unsolved as who is responsible for this mess? Who is going to nail down the culprits at the end of the day? Finally, everyone who is connected to the tourism industry is going to get affected by such kind of behavior. What is your opinion on this? Who do you think is responsible for the existing situation on the South Goa’s beach belt?